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Sir Dan Degley
Sir Danneus Van Gritch Degley (17 Dec 1937 - 20 Jan 1983) was a British-French composer, conductor, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (saxaphonist, violinist, pianist, guitarist), musician, vocalist, economist, theorist, author from London, England but raised in Paris, France from age 12. He is known for his extremely busy career and unique death at the age of 43. Overall, he led over 9 symphony orchestras, 5 piano concertos, and conducted thousands of times. Some say music is what made him go insane, leading to his death. From 1970 to 1974, Degley worked nearly 24/7/365, literally. He had no time for himself at all. He was an extreme perfectionist. Most believe that the nearly-10 years of nothing-but-music is what caused him to go insane. He literally had no time for himself ever, woke up at 3am every single morning to travel 200 miles to play the same 20 songs every single day, maybe skip one every week, just to practice. He was a pure genius of his art. His first long break was a few months in 1978, but that did not help it at all; he just kept making music. By 1980, his career was completely flopped. His fans were excited to see a new album during his 1975-77 period, but by 1980, he was shitting out at least 7 albums a year (most bands do 1). By 1982, 20 full length albums, all unique, all done by Degley. This scared everyone. He was lost. He knew nothing but music by this point. His head literally knew nothing but to make new music. Music. Music--and he died doing it. Early Life (1937-60) Degley was born in London, England in December 1937. His father was famous German composer and violinist Sir Ludrich von Degley III (1897-2001) and mother was Welsh church pianist Abertha Catherine Cwynn (1891-1981), so he had a musical background. He was trained in both instruments from a young age, and later adopted guitar, saxophone and a variety of other instruments, both orchestral and independent. Degley attended a private boys academy where he became an Honors student. At age 12, his family moved to Paris, France due to his father's work. Here, Degley attended a private music academy where he studied and mastered music theory composition. At age 15, his father took him on a tour of Europe to get a taste of different musical varieties. Among them was Scotland and Spain (where he learned spanish guitar). At age 18, he graduated academy and attended High Britain Musical College where he would study for 8 years and earn a PhD in Musical Theory in 1963. He returned for another 2 years to study European languages. He married a Dutch wife, Ida van Pallour in 1965. They had no children and divorced in 1969. Early career (1967-73) In May 1965, Degley finished his course studying and professionalized his musical craft education. He would spend the next 2 years with his wife, then in 1967, he signed onto the Royal Record label in Ireland and began his mainstream career. In December 1967, he released his first album of all-orchestra music. It was later he realized he did not want to be a virtually-unknown composer, so he decided to adopt western musical elements such as folk rock and instrumentals. In November 1968, Degley released a second album. This was followed by a third in July of 1969. He signed up and initiated a full-length world tour for the following year to promote all 3 albums, resulting in their Gold Certification and his official entry into popularity. From January to November 1970, Degley ran a world tour and played over 1000 full shows with several symphonies, mainly the Gold Star Symphony out of Sydney, Australia. In December, he released a fourth album of new work, mainly comprising western elements He became popular in the US. From 1971 to 1973, he ran large worldwide tours increasing his popularity. A January 1974 article named him a "unique musical genius". Career height (1974-77) Degley's solo zenith occurred in 1974-75. He gained international fame as a worldwide professional composer and musician, who went outside the box and appealed to pop music culture. He put on fun acts at his shows. His zenith tour began in September 1974 and lasted until April 1975 worldwide. His most popular show was held on 22 December 1974, in which live elephants and animals were brought in as part of an act at Greendale Stadium in New York City. Hours of footage from the tour were composed in a 1983 film released after his death. In January 1975, Degley met many foreign leaders such as Mao Zedong, Gerald Ford, and Brezhnev and composed with the Royal Chinese and Soviet Union Orchestras. Degley created the Capitol Symphony Orchestra in late 1975, and ran a successful tour from January to December 1976. In January 1977, he focused less on orchestra and more in independent classical music. The CSO disbanded in March. His final full tour was from January to June 1977. Dan released his album, with a more New Wave style, in December 1977, but never started a tour. Degley finalized his divorce from his wife Chelsea Staten in February 1978. Staten stated she did not know why, but he began having fits and never had time for her, and she felt afraid and that it was time to divorce. Degley never said anything else about her publicly, as his last public interview was in January of that year. Final years (1978-83) Around late 1978, Degley began going insane and having severe fits of rage. He isolated himself from people and other society, keeping to himself, his music, and his studio. This worsened much by 1981, in which he was rarely ever seen outside his studio home, only to get mere supplies or equipment, followed by him quickly leaving back (which included a small wreckless car crash). However, his music did not suffer; it benefited. Degley began shitting out up to 7 full-sized albums a year by 1980 (most pro musicians have 1), all completely orchestrated and unique; everything was done by himself, every lyric, every instrument. He could write a full-sized fully orchestrated song in only 4 days, record it, while also doing 3 others at the same time. It was merely amazing, yet saddening he had resorted to this. By late 1982, he had already released over 20 full-sized albums (20 songs each) since 1978, but it did not stop there. There are proofs of a purchase agreement signed in September 1982, in which Degley ordered several high-dollar pieces of recording equipment and demanded immediate shipping. Among these included John Lennon's own piano on which he recorded Imagine years earlier. It remains unknown why he wanted these. Who knows what he was planning. By early 1983, Degley was showing signs of complete deterioration of self. He was devoted literally 24/7 to his music. He only slept when he fell asleep, he never used the restroom resulting in bottles of waste and soiled pants, and he starved himself to death--yet he still made amazing music. It was an act of pure genius, and only of a pure genius that was Degley himself. He accepted no interviews and made meetings to his home short. He completely made, recorded, and released an entire album and was 3/4 way through a second within 12 days, meaning if he had kept going, he could've released over 100 albums a year. The worst part is, every song is unique in every way. Degley played every instrument on the tracks, and demanded complete perfection. On 22 January 1983, a delivery man with a set of saxaphones arrived at Degley's mansion, and no one came to the door, unusual for such a rushed man. The delivery man called police, who went in and found Degley dead on the floor in his recording studio, a guitar in his hands, and the recorder still on. He had died 2 days earlier. Degley had starved himself to death due to never eating or drinking, he was constantly making music in his studio nonstop. Once again, pure genius. And every work down to his last was uniquely genius, possibly written and recorded in an hour or less. Degley was cremated, however before he died they discovered growing cancer cells in his prostate--due to him never using the restroom, holding it in until it came out itself. Nothing stopped Degley. He literally worked until he died. His insanity was not the reason for his death either, so we could've seen hundreds of albums per year from one man had he decided to use the restroom once in a while. It will never be known why or what caused this all to happen, but Dan Degley will go down in history, as the perfectionist who never stopped. Tours * 1970 World Tour (Jan 19 - Nov 30 1970) * 1971 Europe Tour (Jan 28 - Jun 3 1971) * 1971 World Tour (Jul 3 - Nov 13 1971) * 1972 World Tour (Jan 15 - Apr 15 1972) * 1972 Africa Tour (Apr 17 - Jun 30 1972) * 1972 Asia Tour (Jul 5 - Sep 14 1972) * 1972 North American Tour (Sep 20 - Oct 20 1972) * 1973 South American Tour (Dec 31 1972 - Mar 19 1973) * 1973 World Tour (Mar 25 - Nov 24 1973) * 1974 World Tour (Jan 9 - Dec 18 1974) * Zenith Tour '74-75 (Sep 15 1974 - Apr 29 1975) * SuperTour '75 (May 1 - Nov 25 1975) * CSO Tour (Jan 14 - Dec 25 1976) * 1977 World Tour (Jan 10 - Jun 22 1977) Category:June 4 2015